Okay, I'm sick of it! Just sick of it! You upper classmen...you've been acting as mature as the under classmen. I have come with a divine revelation.....THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN BANQUET!
It's been going on since early February. It started with among the show-off couples. Then it infected through the popular kids. When Arts Day finished, and the Preppy/Smart and Artistic clique kids had nothing to do, they then became occupied - oh, excuse me, better word - OBSESSED with banquet, as well! Before you know it, the whole social sphere of our school is Banquet. Banquet banquet banquet! It's like there is nothing else. Who's going with who, how you are arriving, what you're are wearing, what after party you're going to. This is all the talk I hear about. Can you guys ever look beyond it?
Let me tell you something, your craze over banquet is destructive! It is destroying the fellowship among Christians. Once again, you have ruined this school once again. As a Mennonite school, we have the oppurtunity to be a witness to the dark world of secularism by being set apart as different for the Lord. But no! We must conform just like all the other schools. Even though banquet is still the dumb-down Mennonite version of the prom, you guys, with your after dance and party, make us just like the rest. Romans 12:2- "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will"
All of you put way too much effort into this banquet. You all want it to be perfect, and spend all your time worrying about if everything will go right. Why? You want to look good among your peers. You want to stand out. Heck, this is a big social gathering, you got to be at your best looking, or who knows what will happen? Once again, Banquet has caused you to error in the eyes of your Lord! Read Luke 12:22-28-
"22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? 27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!
Yes, there is no mention about Banquet, but it does mention what you are wearing, which seems to be like a big factor in banquet. Still not convinced? I'm pretty sure if there was banquet/prom in the time of Jesus he would have said something like this:
"And do not worry about your social life. Who your friends are or who is going out with who, it is not worth worrying about. Just look at the fish in the sea. They neither hold nor go to parties. They do not undergo a dating process. Neither do they have a prom or a banquet. Yet the Lord gives them the socializing they need. The fish swim in schools, and every year they manage to reproduce and have kids. So if God has given this all to fish, whose lives are only a fraction of what you humans live, will he not also give it to you?"
After that is when the scripture you know will continue, Luke 12:29 & 30- "29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink (or on banquet); do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things"
We are called to be God's children, not pagans. If we take time on worrying about frivilous things, we lose faith that God will provide, and that is a sin. And there is so much more wrong about banquet than that. Like I said, it destroys fellowship among Christians. It lowers those who are not going to banquet by leaving them out and excluding them. Further, those couples, the ones who have the first among the planners, will lower those at banquet without a date. How can you all this, when the Lord looks at all his children equally?!
Personally, I will not be going to banquet. First of all, to make it clear, it has nothing to do with or without having a date! Even if I had a girlfriend, I would not go! A relationship should be personally between a couple, not a show-off tool to your peers! I would not want my friends, my classmates or anyone else in the school to feel lowly beecause they not going to banquet. Do to others have you would want done to you! Remember that part of the verse I bolded above? It says, "And how much more valuable are you than birds!" In a song about this, the ApologetiX sing, "I am worth more than I think" which means the same thing as that verse. Who cares what the human thinks about you? God loves you. And that means you are a great worth, greater than any worldly possession!
As for me, that Saturday night I will be going to a Reading Phillies ball game, with a friend or two. Whoever it is, it will be someone who like me for who I am, with or without girlfriend. And all my friends will are like that. But before that, that Saturday afternoon, I will cry for my generation. I will cry unto the Lord for mercy for the transgressions of our generation. I am embarrassed for the wrong of our generations. I beg you all not to do any wrongs after the banquet. Remember that the Lord calls you to be pure and holy. Hear my words, and heed my warning. Last verse of the post:
"29As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. 30For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. 32The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here." Luke 11:29-32
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oh boy, how do i begin? ... first off, I am rather appalled at your audacity to speak so boldly against banquet and (i may get to this later) your insulting and rude speech yesterday to the junior class. I hope you don't honestly think we're that dumb. but I'll save that for later, perhaps.
the reason many people have been "obsessed" with banquet these past couple months is because it’s the juniors’ job to plan and set up for banquet (in case you didn’t know that). it’s supposed to be a bonding time and an experience for the juniors to organize and prepare for a big event like this. I’m sorry if you didn’t feel the need to help at all in committees or set up for the banquet (in fact, your help was expected and would have been greatly appreciated).
and, just so you know, I went date-less to the banquet and after party and had a wonderful time. i don’t think it is the intent of your so-called “show-off couples” to make those without dates feel subordinate. if anyone does feel that way, it’s their own problem, not anyone else’s.
I almost feel bad writing this to you because I honestly do agree with a lot of what you have said. I just think some things could be said a bit more tactfully. I appreciated your reference to Luke 12 and agree that sometimes we need to let go of frivolous concerns and groundless worries. “Who cares what the human thinks about you? God loves you. And that means you are a great worth, greater than any worldly possession!” < I definitely agree with you there. but i certainly don’t agree that banquet is just a worthless, overrated tradition at our school.
The point of banquet is to have a good time with your friends and enjoy a nice, formal dinner. I don’t see any problem with enjoying looking for a dress and accessories, as long as it doesn’t take over your life. and finding a banquet ride is often the most fun, however meaningless you may think it is. I honestly think you would have appreciated our ride, if you had taken the time to appreciate anything about banquet. and i must admit, our decorations were pretty sweet. i’m sorry you had to miss all of that.
although you didn’t mention it in this rant, I know how you feel about dancing, and, to tell you the truth, you wouldn’t have been too impressed with some of the couples at the after party. however! certainly not all of the people there (myself and my friends included) were into the grinding and such vulgarity. don’t worry, I feel the same way about those activities, and I think it’s sick.
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." < once again, an awesome Bible verse. but i don’t appreciate the fact that you are using this to condemn us, your peers (and, yes, this is generalizing…). it upsets me that you think just because I enjoy attending and planning social functions such as the banquet and after party that I am “just like the rest.” I beg you to understand me. you obviously don’t know your classmates very well if you think this is honestly all we think about.
I don’t want to be mean or rude, but I have noticed that you don’t make much of an effort to get to know your peers very well. i’m sorry if you think people are excluding you or don’t care, but it’s really not that way. I don’t know how else to explain it to you, but you have to realize you’ve got to make an effort as well. and please don’t take this the wrong way.
on to subject #2. I don’t think anyone was impressed with your little speech yesterday—I’m not sure what you were trying to get across to us. you pretty much condemned everyone for being manipulated into voting for you last year, and provided little explanation as to why we should put you in office again. Just so you know, throughout the year, I’ve paid attention to your blog entries and what has been going on in Senate. I think you did a fine job as senator and helped with the organization and creative thought that was involved in various activities this year. I hoped before yesterday that you would be able to articulate why we should allow you to continue as a senator and not (once again) simply condemn your classmates for voting for the “popular kids.” however, I was disappointed. you instead spent the majority of your speech discussing last year’s election (you may have seen me cringing in the front row). I was actually considering voting for you this year because I know that we sometimes need people with different mindsets in our government. but I was not convinced that you did the right thing in insulting our peers like you did yesterday during the elections. I’m not sure what you meant to provoke by doing that.
In closing (finally), I hope that you can understand where I’m coming from and perhaps take these criticisms to heart. I don’t mean to judge, but I think you have some work to do for yourself before you go verbally attacking others. it’s really not the best way to go about what you’re trying to accomplish—you’re just turning people off to what you say, if you consider at all the response of the junior class to your speech. I’m sorry I’m not able to do this in person—I don’t know if that would be better or not. I’d also like you to know that I put a great deal of thought into this, and I would like you to please read it through more than once to hopefully get what I mean to say.
Thank you for listening, and feel free to respond anytime. I think you know my email address.
So...let me get this straight. Instead of dating and going to the banquet and such, you'd rather we all had casual sex with the first person we come upon, like the ideal "fish" we ought to be?
oh, and those two Bible verses you posted that randomly have the word "banquet" in them have absolutely nothing with the topic at hand. okay, so the high priests and whatnot put all of their time into getting the highests seats at banquet; how does that relate to our banquet? it doesn't. and the second verse just says to do good deeds and favors without expecting to be returned. nothing more. nothing to do with Dock's banquet.
I'm sorry you don't agree with the whole banquet ordeal, but it's not all about finding the perfect date and spending lots of money. it's about having fun, working together, and expressing ourselves. I, for one, had the time of my life at banquet, and I know lots of other people did too.
anything can be bad if it distracts from God. sports games or quiz teams or anything.
i don't know who "anonymous" is, but i think if you're going to criticize something another person wrote, you should at least let them know who you are... sorry if you're one of my friends.
okay, so i found this article from sojourner's weekly e-mail newsletter which reminded me of your rant here. i'll provide a link so you can go to the website, but here's a copy of it:
The Prom, Camels, and Stephen Colbert
by Brian Kaylor
SojoMail 5-17-2006
Students at Kellenberg Memorial High School, a private Catholic school in Uniondale, New York, will not be celebrating prom this spring. The school's principal, Brother Kenneth Hoagland, cancelled the event. While Hoagland was disturbed by the sex, alcohol, and drugs that have become part of the prom weekend experience for many, he primarily denounced it for "the flaunting of affluence, assuming exaggerated expenses, a pursuit of vanity for vanity's sake - in a word, financial decadence."
Hoagland wrote the parents to inform them of the reasons for his decision. He argued, "But we are concerned about how our young people are being educated in the use of wealth and the experience of power that wealth gives. ... The current culture of the prom on Long Island does not represent to us a proper Christian use of wealth."
Comedian Stephen Colbert tackled the prom story on his new show The Colbert Report, a spin-off of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show. Colbert previously played a correspondent on Stewart's show where he frequently touched on religious issues in his segment, "This Week in God." Now Colbert's role is an egotistical, aggressive, and extremely patriotic news talk show host. (Think Bill O'Reilly mixed with some aspects from other hosts). After introducing the story, Colbert launched into an over-the-top defense of extreme capitalistic spending.
Colbert asked: "What is this teaching our children? That affluence is not supposed to be flaunted? Do you know what would happen to our economy if the rich stopped acting rich? America has a simple deal with the wealthy: we cut their taxes, and in return they inspire us with their gloriously macked-out cribs, golden toilets, and young taut trophy wives."
Colbert continued his rant by jokingly justifying American decadence: "Yeah, I know that this is a Catholic school and Jesus said it's easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. But may I remind Brother Hoagland, our nation is rich enough to buy some really huge needles, with eyes you could drive a limo full of drunk prom kids through. ... So, remember kids, they may take away your prom ... but never let them take away your champagne dreams and your caviar wishes."
Hoagland wrote in his letter, "When Jesus said that it was very hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, it shocked his hearers and it still shocks us." Through his exaggerations Colbert was able to point out the abuses of American wealth, perhaps in such a way that gets people to listen despite the shocking nature of the claims. When Jim Wallis appeared on The Daily Show in January 2005, he suggested that Jon Stewart was like the Hebrew prophets as he uses humor and telling the truth to make a point. It seems that Stephen Colbert may be following in Stewart's tradition. Hopefully, his viewers - generally young, educated, and fairly wealthy individuals - got the joke.
Brian Kaylor is a doctoral student in communication and a Baptist minister.
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.current_issue#8
isnt graham such a funny guy? course he is dang it! hahaha
Hey Graham,
I read your speech. I think some parts of it were good and other parts not. You referring to your peers as puppets was the worst thing you could do. And referring to yourself as a prophet not respected in his own country was, in my opinion, not the way God meant the verse to be used.
I agree with Elizabeth Speigle in everything she said. I understand most of your sentiments, but attacking people in this manner is not going to change anything.
i don't know who you are, angela, but thank you.
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